What Matters to You – tell us how Shropshire Care Closer to Home Can Make a Difference

'What Matters to You' is the campaign being used for Shropshire Care Closer to Home to start and open conversations with local people to find out what makes a difference, what is important, and what could be done differently.

The Programme Team is visiting areas across Shropshire every couple of months to engage in face-to-face chats with members of the public to hear first-hand what is important to them in terms of health and social care. In particular, the team wants to hear what people think works really well, what needs changing and what is missing.

These are informal events where people can find out more about the Shropshire Care Closer to Home Programme which aims to help elderly people with range of health issues get the care and treatment they need in their own home, or local community, and to reduce their chances of being admitted to a hospital ward.

The first 'What Matters to You' events were held as pilots specifically to target patients who could potentially benefit from Shropshire Care Closer to Home Programme. Permission was also granted from NHS England to use their campaign resources 'What Matters to You' specifically for the Shropshire Care Closer to Home Programme. Following the success of the pilot it was decided to develop an on-going rolling programme of 'What Matters to You' events open to all members of the public.

To date, the team has already visited Oswestry, Bridgnorth, Market Drayton, Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, and Whitchurch. 

The latest event will be on Wednesday, 21 August, 2019 when Barrie Reis-Seymour and Laura Casey from the Shropshire Care Closer to Home Programme Team will host a stand at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Restaurant between 12:00pm and 3:30pm. 

Further dates and locations are planned for every two months throughout the year.

If you would like to suggest a venue for a ‘What Matters to Me’ event then please contact the team via e-mail to shrccg.careclosertohome@nhs.net.

Please note, we only have a small programme team but we will try and accommodate requests where possible.

What happens to the feedback?

All comments are captured on a rolling log of information. This is being used to contribute to the ongoing design of the programme and to help develop proposed models of care setting out how the services could be delivered.

It also provides us with a wealth of information that we can check back against once the models are implemented, to test that they do indeed meet the suggestions made by people.

The feedback does include confidential information but some of the key themes are:

• A requirement for more services nearer to home, i.e. returning to a cottage hospital model
• Transport issues and the stress caused by having to travel long distances for appointments
• Improved local access to services
• Need a system that is easier to navigate – one phone call!
• Patients should only need to tell their story once
• More joined up overview of patient’s needs with joined up teams
• Proactive help instead of people having to search to find services
• More services that allow people to stay at home, for example people with dementia
• Would be useful to have a community team who keeps their eye on quality of services
• Better support for carers as well as patients
• Need to take into account the bigger picture of what is happening in that person’s life and situation
• Clear, simple language
• Timely availability of care and treatments

The tables below show the events we have completed and areas we have visited to date, and how many people spoke with us at each event.